Mercenary
by FoREVer Nightwing
Summary: Songfic for "Mercenary" by Panic! At the Disco.


**A/N: A second "what if" story. This one's a songfic for _Mercenary_ by Panic! At The Disco from the Arkham City Soundtrack.**

**I play around with Robin's costume design. A lot. So, I chose one of my favorite fan-made designs and used it in this. I used Batgirl's design from The Batman, because I liked it :D**

**********EDIT:**** As I checked my e-mail, one of my stories recieved a very nasty review about the use of lyrics in my stories. I had also recived a PM from someone else (who was far nicer about it) about the same issue. I am removing all lyrics from my works. If you have a problem with that, I'm very sorry.**

* * *

**Mercenary**

**-Gotham City-**

_They're gone…_

The little nine-year-old's hands were balled up into fists, angry tears running from his eyes.

_I wasn't able to save them._

His mom and dad, gone.

His aunt and cousin, gone.

His uncle… alive… but paralyzed for the rest of his life.

_I should've told them!_

The boy punched the ground angrily.

He missed the glance of a billionaire, who was debating whether he should do something or not.

Reluctantly, he decided against it. _I can't raise a kid… I'm not fit to… _he thought.

* * *

The man who murdered his parents was sent to jail.

The man who put him there- the Batman- arranged for the boy to have a home in the better part of Gotham.

Before he did, though, he once again thought about taking him under his wing.

And, again, he decided against it.

_The boy didn't deserve any of this._ He thought.

* * *

**-One Month Later-**

He did get a decent home.

Jim Gordon, Gotham City's police commissioner, agreed to adopt him.

He liked the Gordons'. They were nice, caring. They stayed out of his business, and he even found a friend in Barbara, Commissioner Gordon's daughter. They had similar interests, such as gymnastics, electronics, even in detective work.

He knew Barbara wanted to be a detective… but Jim Gordon didn't want her to.

"It's too dangerous, Barbara." He'd say.

Then, the boy would laugh and say, "Really, Jim, you're worried about her? You should be worried about the people she catches."

Barbara would laugh, then playfully punch his arm. "Yeah, dad! It's the bad guys you have to worry about."

Even though he had a good home and a nice family, he still hadn't felt closure.

He didn't want another kid to lose their family like he did.

He wanted to be like Batman, and stop the bad guys before they could do such a thing.

The one person he'd ever tell this to was Barbara.

One day, she had an idea.

"Why don't we?" she asked, "Why don't we fight crime? I mean, we both want to, right?"

"Yeah… but we need to come up with names… costumes… we need a secret hideout." He said.

"Yeah! But, we're not picky, right? It'll be easy to come up with names and costumes… we just need a hideout." Barbara said.

"I got the hideout covered." He said with a smile.

* * *

It was an abandoned mansion not too far away from the GCPD.

Nobody would think to look here.

"Okay, we have a hideout… now we need names… costumes…" the boy said.

"Batgirl!" Barbara said.

"Huh?"

"Batgirl! That's my name."

"Ah."

"So… what about you?"

It took a moment for him to think.

"Robin." He said.

"Robin? As in the bird?" she asked.

"…It's a family name…"

"Oh."

* * *

The costumes took a little longer, but they finally had something.

Batgirl's costume was a short, long-sleeved purple dress with a bat emblem on the front. She wore black gloves and leggings, a gold utility belt, purple boots, a black, bat-like cowl, and a short black cape that had a jagged cut, similar to Batman's.

Robin's costume was a little… different. He wore a red leather jacket which had an "R" on the front, black jeans, and red boots. He had black fingerless gloves, a silver utility belt, a gun holster with an "R" on it, and a black domino mask.

Robin had hacked the GCPD's computers without leaving a trace. He now had access to the crimes they handled.

"Armed robbery on eighty-seven. That's just a few blocks from here." Batgirl said.

"Let's move." Robin said.

* * *

It was fairly easy to stop the robbers.

Both Batgirl and Robin were skilled in fighting and their acrobatics (Robin more than Batgirl in this case). They had the robbers tied up and ready for the PD in about ten minutes.

Batman had been watching the entire time.

_Batgirl and Robin… interesting._

He felt like he's seen them both before.

Robin's acrobatics had reminded him of…

Oh God.

_Dick Grayson._

* * *

**-One Year Later-**

"You know, you shouldn't sneak up on a kid with a gun, Batman."

Batman made himself visible to the one who called him out.

"Robin… so, we finally meet." Batman said.

"Believe me… we've met before." Robin said, smirking.

Batman was silent.

Was it his fault that the boy was this way?

"I'm pretty sure you already figured out my secret identity… so you can just call me by name." he said.

"Dick Grayson."

"Yup."

"Why are you doing this, Dick?" Batman asked, "This job's too dangerous for a child."

"I know… but I won't let what happened to me happen to another kid." Dick said. He glanced over to a picture that was on his desk.

"I see. But… you know you don't have to."

"Yeah… I know…" he sighed, "You know, you're starting to sound like my mom…"

He could feel tears stinging in his eyes.

"How would you… and Batgirl, if she wants… to become my partner?"

"…Yeah."


End file.
